Let me first take my place on the positive side. The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is pretty fun. The show has its own character, its own aesthetic.

“There’s no such thing!” fans will say. And they are right. If you look too long, you won’t find a match for an amazing freak show – and there’s no reason to get moralized about the sizable audience that actually thinks this is great.

But as a “musical competition”, ESC is a waste – completely irrelevant.

Also read: Sweden becomes historic during Eurovision

Bad show illustration

It was almost done badly, when organizers included “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as a pre-vote pause. The song was written for the musical “Carousel” in 1945, but today is better known as the anthem of the Liverpool FC football team.

What an afterthought when this lovely pop tune plays at Anfield before every home game. Why is it badly done? Because the difference in quality between this song and everything that was performed on the ESC stage yesterday was really high.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” stands as an illustration of just how bad ESC’s performances are – measured by musical criteria.

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The message is not to be misunderstood

But in a political sense, this year’s final maintains a high quality, and this talk of the ESC being “non-political” is of course utter nonsense. It’s as hopeless as claiming that sport and politics are separable.

As the big screen fills with the Ukrainian delegation on the final chorus of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the message is unmistakable. We don’t need a speech from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Also read: Russia allegedly attacked the hometown of the Ukrainian Eurovision duo shortly before their gig

By the way, which country has the most blatant violation of “non-political” ESC rules? Norway – which in 1980 participated with “Sámiid Ædnan”, a battle anthem purely for Sami rights – aimed directly at the Norwegian government in the battle for Altavassdraget.

Switzerland is the best

For music – is there a bright spot? Let me start at the bottom, what is rightly called absolute nadir. There we find contributions from Ukraine, Great Britain and Belgium.

The fact that a musically qualified jury was able to award Ukraine and Belgium 12 is a good argument in favor of ESC fan Sveinung Rotevatn, co-leader of Venstre. He wanted to remove the jury from the event: “It will be a party for the people!” Approach.

I love Croatia, because they remind me of Andrej Nebb from Poland-Norway and his phenomenal band dePress. And I support Balkan Albanian pop, brought to life by a large family.

Read also: Alessandra at Eurovision: – Big dreams come true

Otherwise, there are only five entries that come close to musical substance: Italian, Slovenian, Estonian, and Swedish – but the best is Switzerland. Alpelandet actually makes songs that may have value outside the ESC universe.

The “Queen of Kings” Allesandra is in the smoke; tomorrow’s forgotten songs.

NRK escapes

On the plus side, I’ve also noted elements like Britney Spears from Poland, and of course Finland’s contribution. “Cha-cha-cha” is perhaps the “composition” that best represents the spirit of ESC in this year’s finals: Crap in the music. People want to party and have fun!

Also read: Musical Kindergarten Eurovision Song Contest

The Norwegian commentary by Marte Stokstad is fine – factual and sober. But he could save a little on the sweets: “Damn, what a play!”

Because it really isn’t that dramatic, and it’s good to know that there’s still a whole year until next time. I wish Stokstad a good trip to Stockholm, Malmö or Gothenburg in May next year.

Luckily, those of us who fund NRK don’t have to pay for this basically childish event.